WASHNGTON, March 26 - RAPSI. The US Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) has launched a probe against former presidential hopeful and conservative Congresswoman Michele Bachmann amidst allegation of financial impropriety during the 2012 presidential campaign.

These claims include a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint filed by Peter Waldron, the campaign's national field coordinator for outreach to Christian conservatives.

In January Waldron wrote to the FEC stating that Bachmann's campaign made unethical payments to an Iowa state senator who served as her state chairman, according to The Daily Mail.

Waldron's letter also claimed that unpaid staffers and contractors were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement which prohibited them from speaking to attorneys or law enforcement officers before checking with the campaign.

Waldron told the WTOP radio station that federal investigators were questioning Bachmann's campaign staff across the country about payments made from the election fund and also about unofficial payments made during Bachmann's election campaign.

William McGinley, a Washington attorney representing Bachmanns campaign, told The Washington Post that no charges had been brought against Bachmann so far.

"The OCE examined the campaign documents last year", McGinley said. "We are constructively engaged with the OCE and are confident that at the end of their review the OCE Board will conclude that Congresswoman Bachmann did not do anything inappropriate."

For her part, Bachmann released a statement on her website shortly after Obama's most recent State of the Union address implying political foul play on the president's part: "Too much money from President Obama's stimulus package made its way to companies associated with his political contributors."

Bachmann announced her presidential bid in June 2011, portraying herself as a conservative candidate, but pulled out at the beginning of the primaries in January 2012.

Bachmann has developed a reputation in the US for her outspoken support of conservative values and the Tea Party, a controversial political movement. According to its website, the Tea Party movement advocates a downsizing of the US government, the sanctity of gun ownership, traditional family values, and a strong military, among other things.

As the values championed by the Tea Party fall on the far-right end of America's political spectrum, her support of sweeping legislative reform and her vocal criticism of the present administration have proven divisive.

She was widely reported for making several controversial comments. In August 2011, she said that a hurricane and an earthquake were God's warning to Washington. She also referred to homosexuality as "sexual dysfunction and sexual identity disorders" and claimed that "it leads to the personal enslavement of individuals."

The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent investigative body established by the House five years ago to conduct preliminary investigations into allegations of misconduct by House members or their aides.

The panel can dismiss cases or refer them to the House Ethics Committee.